Tag: csv

Given the emphasis that Columbus coach Gregg Berhalter places on possession and passing, it probably isn’t a surprise that I’ve started to focus on those statistical categories. Throughout the 2016 season, as troublesome results started to accumulate, I’ve tried to understand the Columbus approach to possession and passing within the context of other teams in MLS.

Each observation is a single team’s performance in a single game – so with 20 teams each playing 34 games, there are 680 rows available. Fields include:

Team

Opponent

Possession %

Passes

Pass completion %

Passes in specific areas of the field (attacking half, final third, and crossses)

Pass completion % in those areas

Shots

Shots on target

Goals

Hopefully the work to assemble this data proves useful to someone. I’ve been using this data for many of the plots that I’ve shared on Twitter this season, and now that Columbus is done for the year I’ve been exploring it in more detail.

I hope to be able to share what I’ve found over the coming weeks, but for now I mostly just want to see whether anyone is interested in the data itself.

The 2016 season for Columbus Crew SC is turning into one of the hardest in team history. A year after hosting MLS Cup, the team is mired near the foot of the Eastern Conference standings. The collapse is threatening to set several team records for futility, including lowest number of victories and the fewest points earned in a season.

Recently, I was asked via Twitter to look into another possible mark of futility:

@bernhardtsoccer Can you query your database to determine the greatest number of calendar days between #CrewSC league wins in one season?

The answer, sadly, is that this year’s team will at least equal the longest winless stretch in history. Should they fail to defeat New York City FC (currently leading the Eastern Conference) on August 13th, they will own the mark outright.

The following table illustrates the longest winless streaks (solely looking at league play) during each calendar year.

Season

Max Gap

Last Win

Next Win

Notes

1996

75

May 11

July 25

1997

41

May 11

June 21

1998

30

July 9

August 8

1999

42

May 15

June 26

2000

28

May 27

June 24

2001

35

April 14

May 19

2002

31

March 27

April 27

2003

56

June 28

August 23

2004

27

June 6

July 3

Columbus did not win its first game in 2004 until 42 days into the 2004 season.

2005

39

June 11

July 20

2006

77

June 3

August 19

2007

62

July 22

September 22

2008

35

May 10

June 14

2009

29

August 15

September 13

Columbus did not win its first game until 49 days into the 2009 season.

2010

50

September 4

October 24

The 2010 team’s 50-day winless streak ended when the season ended.

2011

43

August 20

October 2

2012

42

March 31

May 12

2013

35

March 23

April 27

2014

56

March 29

May 24

2014 had two different spells of 56 days between victories.

May 24

July 19

2015

46

May 9

June 24

2016

77

May 28

August 13

This assumes Columbus defeats New York City FC on August 13.

Before 2016, the club record for days between victories in a single season was 2006, when Sigi Schmid’s inaugural squad went 77 days between victories on June 3 and August 19.

The 2006 season is commonly acknowledged as the worst in team history. The first of Schmid’s three years in charge saw so much player turnover from the Greg Andrulis years that Columbus was essentially an expansion club, and almost none of the players from that year were on the roster to lift MLS Cup two years later.

Interestingly, the season with the shortest winless streak – including season-beginning streaks – was 2000. This is ironic, given that the 2000 team was also the first to miss the playoffs. While their 11 victories were spread out evenly enough that they avoided any long doldrums, they also won no more than two games in a row during the season.

Other seasons of note in this summary were 2004 and 2009, which began with winless streaks (42 and 49 days respectively) that were longer than any seen during the middle of the season. Oddly, both of those years ended with Columbus winning the Supporters Shield. The 2004 team in somewhat infamous for reaching this mark on the strength of only five losses, but drew more often (13 times) than they won (12).

Caveats

I should give a caveat that my records for 1996 – 1999 treat all games that went to a shootout as ties. Arguments can be made that this is inaccurate, but in the case of this particular question the difference is irrelevant. In 1996 Columbus did not win a game of soccer between May 11 and July 25 (a stretch of 75 days) – even though they twice won the post-game shootout during that spell.